This months speaker is: Dr. Sebastian Bürgel at HOPR.

Even in supposedly free countries, Bitcoin users often times do not want to disclose their entire browsing history and connection metadata to third parties. Rightly so, because increasingly we do not only see nation-state adversaries but also private network and infrastructure providers having access to such data which is commonly stored permanently, eventually leaked or even sold along with the companies hosting them. The most common privacy protection mechanism are VPNs, more advanced Bitcoin users might use TOR and more recently the use of mesh networks starts gaining traction.

In this talk Sebastian will go through the fundamental issues with using direct P2P connections, VPNs and how also TOR is neither particularly privacy-preserving nor decentralized. He will then look at mesh networks that are also not designed for privacy and contrast that with mixnets who are aiming at exactly that: obfuscating sender and recipient of data packets even against strong global passive adversaries. Finally he will present HOPR, a novel mixnet infrastructure with incentives and layer 2 payment channels. Sebastian will demo the Substrate / Polkadot and Ethereum implementations and show a roadmap for how this could even work with Bitcoin-based smart contract systems.

More about Validity Labs: https://validitylabs.org/

More about HOPR: https://hopr.network/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH48dy6PjVg

Note: Remember to RSVP!

To watch or share this events's live stream, check here: TBA, Link will be posted when the event starts either here or in the comments.

We will also have time for 1-minute long lighting talks for anyone who signs up. All speakers will be live streamed, and the remainder of the evening will be for networking and socializing!

We'll have free beer, other beverages and food as usual (the food usually goes quickly)!

And finally, to give a lightning talk, just add your name to the list at the beginning of the meetup!

About the location:
Starfish Mission is a hub for emerging tech communities with a focus on blockchain/Web3 and AI, based out of the mid-market area in San Francisco. As an organization, and network, Starfish is committed to creating spaces and learning networks for a community of builders, and doers.

Offerings at Starfish include coworking and office space, curated industry events, and education.

Reach us at info@starfishcommunity.com or visit https://www.starfishcommunity.com/. You can sign up here: https://www.starfishcommunity.com/events